Saturday, August 22, 2009

iPhone to the test!

I would never intentionally damage my iPhone, especially considering the expense of replacing it if I did. I had an opportunity to take it with me on an extreme trail biking adventure and it did very well thank you! Since I was the passenger on the drive to the mountain (beautiful Silver Star in Vernon, British Columbia) I played with a few of the navigation applications relevant to hiking and sports. For starters I wanted to know what the elevations were at the top and bottom of the run. Since we wouldn't be taking the great-circle-route down the hillside, I was curious what distance we covered and what our average and top speeds were.

I had no prior experience hurling myself down a hillside littered with jumps, bumps, creeks, logs and extra features designed specifically to cause me what the waiver form described as "gross bodily harm, dismemberment and certain death!" They also mentioned damage to personal property, which I think means my iPhone 3GS would likely be shattered into a billion pieces. Hmm, more pieces than applications... that is an Apple first!

It took about half an hour to put on all the protective gear which included full face helmet, knee and leg pads, and elbow and arm pads. I passed on the chest protector but wished they'd offered some form of under-the-belt protection. My handy-dandy goes anywhere-I-go iPhone accompanied me in it's rubber case that it lives anyways as I'm a complete klutz. When I saw the 5 foot drop off the ramp that starts the course, I completely forgot to check elevations, set my GPS track or utilize any of the other half dozen apps I had planned to use. I wish I had worn my heart rate monitor, and could find an app that uses bluetooth to keep a record my heart rate, as I'm sure my iPhone would have been buzzing with activity. One feature that does work well is playing music with a good set of earphones and having the ability to answer the cell phone while mid-air off a jump that seems to land you deep in the forest.

As much as I like to think that we can take our mobile devices everywhere with us and do just about anything with them, the reality is that some activities are best done the old fashioned way. And yes, my iPhone survived many jumps and a few crashes without a hiccup or mark. I on the other hand, had many scratches, scrapes, bruises, and a sprained thumb and wrist. By the way, the fastest speed I achieved was at the end of the day when I noticed a bear about 20 feet away!

At least the sturdy iPhone did very well. They are tough little devices for sure. I dropped one about 12 feet, down the stairs and it still looks and runs perfectly. No complaints at all with the 3G I have!